In Olympic ice hockey, intermissions are typically 15 minutes long between periods.

Basic timing

  • Olympic hockey games have three 20‑minute periods.
  • Between each of these periods, there is a 15‑minute intermission for rest and ice resurfacing.

So if you’re watching a standard Olympic game and a period ends, you can expect about a 15‑minute break before play resumes.

Overtime intermissions

  • Most Olympic games: if the game is tied after regulation, teams play a 5‑minute sudden‑victory overtime with a shorter, roughly 3‑minute intermission before OT.
  • Gold medal game: if it goes to overtime, there is a full additional intermission (about 15 minutes) before a 20‑minute overtime period.

You can think of it this way: regulation breaks are full 15‑minute intermissions, while the extra break before non‑gold‑medal overtime is more of a quick reset than a full intermission.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.